Distance Makes The Heart Grow More Painful
by snakeofdreams
Summary: 'Why does it hurt so much! Why am I the only one to suffer when I try to love somebody' Sasuke didn't know what to do in the face of such a confession. He'd never even considered the possibility before. Sasu/Naru


Sasuke bent backward, avoiding a narrow, desperate slice of a katana. He flipped, creating some distance between his old friend and himself. Straightening, he looked over the blonde.

Naruto stood, breathing heavily, bent over his hands, in which a katana was clasped. He swayed, eyes closed, face scrunched up in pain, but hidden by his hair. After a moment, he took a large breath, and looked up, eyes determined.

"Hn, you actually look serious...dobe. What did I do to make that happen?" Sasuke's words were condescending, as to jeer the younger boy into losing his head.

"Shut up..." Naruto just mumbled, not meeting his eyes. There was a moment of silence.

"...Where is Kakashi?" Sasuke asked, but stopped as Naruto sped forward, shoving the tip of the blade forward at the Uchiha. Sasuke sidestepped, and Naruto, using his momentum, spun, swiping.

"Not...here...stop moving..." Naruto managed, voice uneven. Sasuke dodged around the teen, kicking him from behind. The jinchuuriki stumbled, but regained his balance after only a few wobbly steps.

"Then what are you doing here? You thought you could capture me on your own?" Sasuke's hand gripped his own sword.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up..." Naruto repeated, before disappearing with a poof of smoke. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, as he felt something barrel into him from behind. He was pushed forward by another Naruto, and they hit the floor. The blonde managed to pull the other's sword away, and fling it into the trees before he was dispersed with a quick punch to the face.

Naruto grunted as he brought the weapon down with shocking force, which cracked the earth where Sasuke's neck had just been. A resounding 'CLANG' rung out. Sasuke eyed him, smirking.

"Hmm, you're really getting emotional. If you continue being rash, and kill me, what will Konoha say-"

"_I AM trying to kill you!_" Naruto shouted, glaring at him. Sasuke stopped. Huh?

After a moment of silence, "...Really? I don't think Sakura or Kakashi would approve of that." Sasuke spoke in a carefully blank tone.

"I don't care about them!" Naruto growled. "The only person I care a- the only thing I care about is killing you!" Naruto's form was shaking slightly, but his eyes were trained on the other teen.

Sasuke saw him approach again, and glanced over at where his sword now lay. He hadn't felt the need to carry anything other weapons, and he hadn't planned on killing anyone other than Itachi and anyone else in the way of his revenge. So that meant his Chidori attacks were out of the question.

Naruto sped closer, seeming to have calmed himself down, and was shooting from left to right to keep Sasuke guessing about where he'd come from. Sasuke sighed, activating his Sharingan, and as Naruto neared, raised his metal-plated hand, blocking the blow.

"Why?" Naruto blinked, before scowling.

"...You betrayed Konoha, you tried to k-...kill me, and you're dangerous." Sasuke stared at him intently.

"Because I want to kill Itachi. And I have very good reason to. He killed my whole family. What have I done that justifies _you_ wanting to kill _me_?"

"Because I'm selfish." Naruto admitted, looking down, pushing harder against Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "_You_, selfish?" Even though it had been years since they had been on the same team, 'selfish' was still not a word the Uchiha would associate with the blonde. Rash, annoying and foolish, perhaps, but selfish...No.

"I want you dead." Naruto said, simply, face blank.

Sasuke observed this change in his old friend; from over-brimming emotion to none. "You're an idiot. What reason could you have to want to kill me? This isn't like Itachi and I." Sasuke shook his head. It felt like the world had fell on its head, like he was Itachi and Naruto was Sasuke. "You really hate me that much?"

"No. I love you."

Naruto stepped back, pointing the blade at Sasuke. Sasuke paused, registering the confession. It did not compute.

"...What?" He grunted as he narrowly missed a strike. Naruto continued to bear down on him.

"I love you. Too hard to understand?" Sasuke blocked once more, and they stared at eachother in the deadlock. Naruto growled in frustration. "I like your eyes- people say they're dark blue, but I think they're black. Pure, endless black. I like it; I can read them...because they're so honest, even when you're not."

Sasuke frowned, faltering slightly. "What are you talking about, dobe-?" He asked, for the first time in a while, confused. Was this a distraction? To keep him off-guard with weird words so Naruto could cut him down?

"I like your voice. Even more now than before. I can't help it- even when we fight, I relax when I hear it. It's so low and strong..." Naruto was still glaring, but there was an uneasy blush on his cheeks. Sasuke, to his chagrin, had one too, more out of helpless horror. It didn't _sound _like it was just a distraction! This was _not_ how their confrontations were supposed to happen. "You're the only person I'd let call me that name, because of that."

"...Dobe?" He repeated, testing. He watched for Naruto's reaction.

"Hai." Naruto's eyes had softened, and the force behind the katana lessened for a moment, before Naruto growled, regaining his determination, and forced Sasuke's hand away, swinging the sword across with the other. Sasuke ducked, rolling out of the way. He then looked around. The best thing to do in this unplanned situation would be to escape it, but looking at Naruto, it didn't seem to be much of a possibility.

Naruto watched him, sword pointing toward the ground. "I like how you look too, of course. But I think everyone does, so that's not much of a surprise to me." His gaze lingered on Sasuke's bared chest, then trailed up to his face. "And, even though it was a complete accident, I just cant forget that kiss, no matter how much I try."

Sasuke was now completely uncomfortable. He wished he hadn't decided to keep wearing the stupid clothes Orochimaru pushed on him. Naruto...a guy, his team mate, was attracted to him? Such a notion hadn't ever entered the Uchiha's head, and it was...strange to consider.

Naruto was tense, and sighed. "But, you know...What I love most is your heart." As if realizing how terribly cliché that sounded, he looked to the side. "You've got something most people don't have. You've got this drive...this will to live. You're so confident, and when we were genin, just being around you made me want to do better." He smiled bitterly. "Get it now?"

"If you...love...my will to live, then _why_ do you want me dead?"

Naruto slumped, looking down. He whispered something.

"What?"

"Is...What is love supposed to feel like?" Naruto asked, sullenly. Sasuke relaxed from his ready stance somewhat, as it didn't appear that Naruto was about to attack.

"Wouldn't you know?"

Naruto shook his head slowly- he didn't seem to be responding to Sasuke's counter-question, but just to himself. "My whole life, I've never felt it...I didn't have a family...the orphanage kicked me out after six years...lived on the streets...lived on my own...In the Academy, I didn't have friends, and teachers never liked me..." He took a slow breath. It was always hard to talk about himself and his past- so usually, he never did.

"People just automatically hated me, and that was normal. But I didn't mind all that, 'cuz that's how it's always been. But then there was you..."

Naruto's left hand raised, to touch his chest, over his heart. "Love's a good feeling, right? It's positive, supposed to make you feel good." Naruto was shaking slightly, and slowly looked up at his old best friend and love, tears running down his face, eyes clouded over. "T-then why does it hurt _so much?_" He cried out, voice portraying so much pain. Pain that Sasuke didn't think someone like Naruto should have to feel.

Sasuke stepped back, eyes widening. "..." He opened his mouth, but couldn't think of anything to say. This wasn't something he could just answer with an light insult or something of the like, and that had been their main means of interaction before now.

"I can't deal with it any more! Three years of wondering why I felt this for you, because I knew you definitely didn't feel that way back! Three years of remembering that you had wanted me _dead! _Three years of not knowing whether _you_ were alive or dead!" Naruto's grip on his sword and his chest tightened. "Why am I the only one that has to suffer when I try to love someone?"

Naruto straightened, grinning slightly, despite the tears. "I told you I'm selfish. It hurts too much- so I'm going to get rid of it." Sasuke moved to the side, picking up his sword, trying not to think.

The dance began again, Naruto on the attack, Sasuke on the defense. Each blow was blocked, and each block was followed by another strike.

"Dobe, get a hold of yourself!" Sasuke managed to sneer, before looking almost worried again. "You're giving up? This is like what that Gaara guy would do! I thought you were stronger than this."

"_Stop talking!_ I don't _want_ to hear that voice any more!" Sasuke's breath caught as he saw red starting to bleed into the blue of Naruto's eyes, and tingeing the air around him. Kyuubi's chakra. Proof that if Naruto hadn't lost it before, he was losing it now. And he was serious.

Sasuke needed to stop Naruto soon, or else he knew for sure that he would die, so, thinking on his feet, he clashed their swords together, pushing their sword arms away from their bodies, and tackled Naruto to the ground. Naruto grunted as he hit the floor and took on Sasuke's weight, but froze when Sasuke's face moved close to his.

"Fine. No more talking." Sasuke said shortly, and, after a moment of hesitation, brought his lips to Naruto's. Naruto's eyes widened, and he lay there, unmoving. Sasuke, having expected Naruto to kiss back or something similar, lifted his eyes to meet the other's blue-red ones. As Naruto could read Sasuke's eyes, so could Sasuke read Naruto's, and all he saw was confusion and worry. Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment, bringing up some confidence, before deepening the kiss. He felt Naruto shifting under him, and the red chakra dimming slightly. Naruto pulled back, and Sasuke broke the contact. Naruto tried to catch his breath.

"W-what are you..." He attempted to say, weakly. Sasuke's hand rubbed against scarred cheeks, wiping away any wetness. That didn't belong there. He then lowered his head again, instigating another kiss. Naruto stilled, and this time, he closed his eyes, responding hesitantly.

To his surprise, Sasuke found that the feeling wasn't as disturbing as he had expected kissing another guy to be... Naruto hummed slightly against Sasuke's lips, calming down. Sasuke pressed his hands against the ground on either side of Naruto's head, and while he licked against the other's lips, they moved up to play with the bottom of the blonde's jacket.

Naruto shivered slightly, hand grasping at his chest again, and let the older teen explore his mouth. He felt his shirt and jacket being pulled up, and fingers touch him near the seal- his most sensitive area. His eyes snapped open, and he froze, moaning slightly into the others mouth. The fingers stopped. Sasuke leaned back, still straddling him, and watched him. "...The h-hell...Sasuke...?" Naruto quickly found the grass to his right incredibly interesting, looking away.

The Uchiha had a troubled -almost questioning- look on his face, glancing between the red chakra that was still lingering in the air slightly, and Naruto's red face. He looked down at the seal, which Naruto had covered with his hands. He connected the dots. "You liked it when I touched the seal, huh?" He was still for a moment, before smirking to himself, giving in. Sasuke bent over Naruto's stomach, pulling the blonde's hands away. Naruto's eyes flicked back to his in alarm.

"S-Sasuke, stop it...this isn't funny..." Naruto managed to grumble, before Sasuke brought his tongue to the skin. Automatically, Naruto arched his back, raising his chest and stomach up, giving him better reach. "Haa...Stop it!" He panted, reaching up and grabbing Sasuke's shoulder with his free hand.

Sasuke glanced up, and appeared to think it over. "No." He gave Naruto a cool smirk. Even though he'd successfully distracted Naruto from using the Kyuubi's chakra, he was- to his own surprise- enjoying this. It was like someone had flipped a switch and now a whole new outlook on this had revealed itself to the Uchiha. New possibilities, new options. He was enjoying being able to make the blond stutter and lose his confident composure. Naruto was staring down at him, flushed, now. Sasuke enjoyed that look on his ex-team mate, too. He quickly unbuttoned his orange pants, pulling them down a bit to fully show off the seal. Ignoring Naruto's indignant gasp, he looked over what of the blonde's body was exposed. He had expected Naruto to be a bit on the pudgy, large side, because of the baggy jacket, but large Naruto was not...and Sasuke approved of this older, more mature-looking Naruto.

Grinning lazily to himself, he moved up to steal another kiss from the confused teen. They lay there, body parts intertwining, before Naruto's eyes widened, snapping out of his daze, and moved his head to the side, breaking the contact short.

"Stop it! Why are you doing this? Are you really that cruel, you're going to play with my feelings?" His voice cracked.

"I'm not playing with your feelings. You said you knew I don't love you." Sasuke said shortly. He didn't know yet, he needed to see if it was a possible...He couldn't help being defensive, but winced at how blunt that must have sounded to the unstable boy. Naruto's eyes dulled, but his facial expression was calm.

"_Exactly._" Naruto took a shaky breath, and, with his hand behind the Uchiha, drove the hilt of his katana into the back of the raven's head. He was out for the count.

* * *

Sasuke slowly woke from unconsciousness, an aching in the back of his head. He blinked, blearily, before stopping to think. "...I'm still alive, huh." He rolled onto his back, looking up at the ceiling. There usually wasn't any ceilings in the forest.

"...Hai...Damn it..." He heard Naruto whisper, and looked over to the side.

Naruto was sitting in a chair near the wall, dishevelled, knees bent up to his chest. He held his katana between them, pointing to the floor. He wasn't looking at Sasuke; instead out the window, at the setting sun. The orange-red rays were the only source of light in the room, and lit him up beautifully.

Sasuke sat up, ignoring any dizziness he felt. He looked around. "...A hotel room?" He asked, incredulous for moment, before he gave Naruto an amused smirk. "Why did you drag me here?"

Naruto huffed. "I panicked. When I couldn't...When I-...I took you to the first place I could think of, so I'd have time to think."

"And?"

The sword was rolled back and forth between his palms. "You didn't give me enough time." Sasuke looked him over. His pants were still unbuttoned, and his jacket open, hanging off on one shoulder.

"You got a hotel room looking like that?" Naruto snorted, but there was little humour in it.

"I must have been something to see like this, dragging a passed out guy with me." His knees bobbed up and down erratically, and he didn't meet the other's eyes.

"You don't need to kill me." Naruto's eyes flashed.

"Oh? And what should I do instead? What else can I do to stop -this-?" He made a vague gesture at himself. He stared off to the distance, eyes dull. "I'm tired of feeling this, Sasuke." He then looked straight at Sasuke. "I hate you."

Sasuke withheld a wince. That hurt.

"I want you dead. I don't mind feeling guilt. I've had blame put on my shoulders my whole life. Hatred, too. It's love I don't know how to deal with." His legs dropped down to touch the floor and he stood, sword at his side.

"It confuses you enough that you'd kill me?" Sasuke asked, feeling oddly depressed at that. Naruto sighed, breath unsteady.

"I don't know. I don't know anything about it! I don't know what to do!" He grasped at his face with his hand, closing his eyes tightly. Sasuke hesitated, eyes on his struggling friend, before getting up himself.

"Wh-what're you-?" Naruto managed before he was pulled close to the Uchiha. "P-please don't kiss me again!" He pleaded, and Sasuke chuckled. 'Please'? How cute.

"I won't- unless you want me to." He teased, lightly. Naruto shook his head against his chest.

"It just...it just reminds me of what I can't have. Why did you do that? You made everything worse!" Naruto grit his teeth. "I hate you!"

"No, you don't." Sasuke muttered. "Sorry." Naruto sighed, and suddenly, Sasuke was supporting all of Naruto's weight, the blonde leaning limply against him. "W-watch it, usuratonkachi!" Sasuke was tipped back, falling onto the bed, Naruto following him.

"Mmrr..." Naruto mumbled, eyes closed. "You're lucky I can't get angry when you call me that." He asked himself, sullenly. He sat up on Sasuke's chest, looking off. Sasuke watched him, silently. "I don't know what to do." Naruto said in a small voice, sounding lost.

The raven swallowed. "Just...forget it. Whatever it is that's hurting you so much. Forget it." He said, lowly, eyes on where Naruto's hands were grasping his clothing.

There was a snort above him. "Forget _you_? I can't."

"Yes, you can. You'll never see me again after this. You'll find someone else..." Sasuke's eye twitched at the almost...cliché things he was saying, but he meant them. "And you'll forget." He promised.

"_No_, I _can't_." Naruto growled, frustrated, hands in his hair. He bent backward, spine curving as he let out an irritated sound, before righting himself, returning to his original position on top of the Uchiha. Sasuke watched this with widened eyes, almost distracted. How did he _bend_ that way?

"You're not just in my _head_, Sasuke! You think everyone else in Konoha just 'forgot' about you when you left?" Sasuke blinked, eyes moving back up to Naruto's eyes. "People still want you back and talk about you! Sakura-chan still gets all _heartbroken_ whenever someone mentions your name!" The word was spat out ironically, as if she couldn't possibly know what _heartbroken_ was. "And she still wants to get you back! Sai looks just like you so every time I see him, I see you too!" Wait, who was Sai? ...That guy that replaced him on the team? "And-and..." Naruto grew quiet again, staring down at his hands and Sasuke's chest, eyes unreadable. "Every single day, every time I get undressed to have a shower, or go to bed..."

Sasuke was as still as a statue and was pressing himself so far into the bed he felt like he was about to merge with the mattress. Naruto...talking about undressing...and showers...and- where was this going? Still, he listened, curious.

"I see myself in the mirror and I see the scar and it hurts all over again." ...Oh, good. Sasuke wasn't exactly ready to consider such topics yet. Wait...

"What scar?" Sasuke couldn't help asking. Naruto just watched him, face set. The Uchiha looked over Naruto's uncovered skin, seeing no imperfections, aside from the scars on his cheeks, and even they were perfect in their symmetry. He frowned. What other scars did Naruto have? He hadn't had any back when Sasuke lived in Konoha. Something he got over the three years? No, why would that remind the blond of Sasuke?

Was it something Sasuke himself had inflicted? They'd never really injured eachother to the point of scarring in training...When Sasuke met the new Team Seven at Orochimaru's hideout he'd never touched Naruto with his sword. So when else had...

Sasuke's eyes fixed on Naruto's jacket, over his chest. Of course. But...hadn't the Kyuubi healed it...?

Naruto didn't move to reject Sasuke's hands, which rose to the grasp the hem of the black shirt, after pushing the folds of the jacket away. The only reaction the blonde had that showed he was aware of the Uchiha's movements was the slight intake of breath as Sasuke took hold of the shirt, and the shiver that followed as the shirt was raised, this time higher than before to reveal his chest.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he almost withdrew his hands. The scar was _huge_. It was rounded, with five dips in the outline that signified where Sasuke's fingers had entered into the skin. The scarred tissue shined where the slowly dimming sunlight hit it. Right in the center of the jinchuuriki's chest, just missing his heart. It was so close. An inch- less than that- and Naruto would have had a hole in his heart.

There weren't any other scars on him. The only thing marring his skin was the jagged scar Sasuke himself had inflicted. He had done this, and it wasn't ever going to go away. Naruto was right; he was going to see this every time he looked at his own chest and remember when the Uchiha had tried to kill him.

Sasuke curled his fingers into a light fist, and pressed it against the scar, not oblivious to Naruto's flinch. Yes, it fit perfectly, or maybe a bit smaller as Sasuke's hand had grown. "Is-...on the other side?" Sasuke asked, almost whispering. The blonde's eyes flicked open -when had they closed?- and the blue shone down at him. His hair- dark yellow now in the dusk- moved as he nodded. Sasuke, couldn't see much of his figure except the side facing the window, shadows covering the rest of him.

Sasuke almost flinched back when a hand felt for his other hand, not expecting it, but he didn't resist as Naruto took it, grasping it gently. He barely felt any pressure on his hand. Naruto guided the hand up, and Sasuke watched it, silently curious. Then the two hands disappeared under Naruto's shirt, at the back, and the raven's breath caught. His skin passed against Naruto's back, noticing how Naruto's back curved and feeling the muscle underneath move, before his hand was pressed against a scar similar to the one he was touching at the front.

Sasuke could recall shoving the Chidori through these points. He hadn't dwelt upon it in the moment, struck by triumph and rage, not thinking straight. But he still could remember how it felt for his fingers to claw through the skin, flesh bubbling as the electricity travelled through his team mate's body, the snapping of ribs being forced apart by his hand. He also remembered the sudden cool feeling as his hand burst out the other side, and the warm, contrasting wetness of blood streaming down his arm to drip off his elbow. He had revelled in the feeling at the time, but now, feeling the living, but injured skin, he just felt ill.

"And-" Sasuke cut himself off, giving himself a few more seconds to think and form his words. "And even after- this, you still...love me?"

"...I can't see you..." Naruto shifted on top of him, and the light hanging from the ceiling, above the bed, lit up. The Uchiha blinked a few times, adjusting to the sudden brightness. Once he did, he opened his eyes again.

Naruto was looking down at him, from his place straddled on Sasuke's chest. Sasuke's mind went blank at the sight of his own hands up Naruto's shirt, which was hiked up to his chest. He couldn't help moving his fingers against the skin lightly, watching Naruto take in a breath at the sensation. It was still fascinating to seeing the reactions.

"I can't explain it..." Naruto started talking, and Sasuke tried to pay attention. "I mean- how much clearer a rejection can you get, huh? What says 'I don't care about you at all' more than attempted murder?" He chuckled without joy, and Sasuke shot him a glare at the last word.

Murder...it sounded so evil, made what happened sound so disgusting and meaningless. There had been so much more at play; it hadn't even been about Naruto at all. To kill Itachi, he needed -or at least had thought at the time he needed- the Mangekyou Sharingan, and to get that, he needed to kill his best friend. It hadn't been personal, killing Naruto had just been a step toward-

Sasuke tried to stop thinking before he hated himself more than he already did. How callous could he be? Especially toward _Naruto_ of all people? Yes, Naruto was different from everyone else. Sasuke just wasn't yet completely sure of why.

Thankfully, or not, Naruto was continuing to talk, so Sasuke focused on that.

"But...but still, you had been the first person...t-to look at me, and judge me for what you saw, instead of what you heard about me, or knew about me, or thought you knew about me...And no one had ever d-done that before." Naruto admitted quietly. "So I...liked you, even if you hated me."

"I never hated you." Sasuke disagreed immediately.

"Really?" Naruto asked, almost lightly.

"Yeah."

Naruto shifted lower, so he was leaning on his elbows. He ducked his head, his forehead brushing against Sasuke's. "Awesome." They both smiled slightly.

There was a moment of almost ironic humour, contrasting greatly with the emotions still running high within them. A moment of reprieve for both their ragged nerves.

When Sasuke's eyes started to close, he suddenly became fully aware of the strange embrace they had become comfortable in. His head was resting against Naruto's neck while the blonde did the same to him, he didn't remember them moving. And since when had his hands started moving along Naruto's skin, under his shirt? He got a strange sense of deja vu of yesterday- wait, no, it was only a few hours ago, the sun just set-, but this time, he wasn't sure if this embrace was going to end, or if he wanted it to.

Apparently, he didn't, because when Naruto started to move away, muttering out an apology for something, his arms didn't want to move.

"I-I'm sorry for this." Naruto said, despondently.

"For..." Sasuke didn't want to admit that he had kind of lost track of their conversation during that pause.

"For- for _this_." Naruto said, lamely, taken aback at Sasuke's distracted drawl. "I'm- I won't kill you- or try to, anyway-...I don't know what I was thinking, I just heard you were nearby and then I had to- see you and then I just couldn't- Sasuke I need to get up!" Naruto's rambling had gotten more disjointed and panicked as he tried to pull away from his position of lying on top of the Uchiha.

"Wait." Sasuke stopped him with a word, not willing to end this comfort yet.

Naruto stilled, and Sasuke could almost feel the hammering of the blond's heart against his chest. A few more moments. "Look, Sasuke, I'm serious; I won't even touch the sword when I leave-you can have it, whatever- I just need to go!"

"Why?" Why did Naruto want to leave now, Sasuke would have thought that if he was enjoying this...cuddle, for lack of a better word, then Naruto would have loved it. He wanted Naruto to love it.

"Why? Because...I shouldn't be here and I have no reason to be here and I should let you just go and- please I know that you don't feel the same and it hurts so-"

Ah. Knowing that it wasn't his grip that was hurting him, Sasuke drew him closer. "It's fine. Stay." He said decisively, serious.

Naruto let in a large breath, before releasing it, slowly. "Fine." He said, two parts resigned and one part quietly happy. An unspoken agreement had been made. Then it began, an Sasuke realised what he had been wanting for years, but could never identify.

Sasuke didn't know who instigated it, but soon one pair of lips met the other, then hands were roving all over, and clothes were slowly being removed as they aimed to touch, move against, kiss, the entirety of the other man. Then they started moving even closer, if it was possible, and they couldn't entirely remember how, but then one was inside the other, and even then they grasped at each other's backs, as if in an attempt to get even closer.

It was an awkward, slow affair at first- neither knew exactly what they were doing, whether to leave the light on or not, or what they were trying to achieve, aside from 'making it better'. It was slow, almost painstakingly slow as they tried to prolong everything, all the sensations, and it wasn't until Sasuke hit something that made Naruto try to stifle a wail that there was any fierce passion in it. But upon hearing that noise and seeing blue eyes darken in pleasure, Sasuke woke from the daze, and, now given some direction, he tried to find that place again and again, to see and feel Naruto respond. Naruto came alive with each thrust, as did he, and they both fed each other, drove each other toward the peak. They sweated, and breathed, and moaned without limiting themselves as they hit the top, and released a tension that they didn't know they had. The experience ended in an inverted version of how his started; one on the other, heads together, in a close embrace.

It was an intimate, strange, secret moment that neither was sure whether to think upon it with embarrassment, shame or fondness, when they did think about it, after.

Sasuke watched Naruto move out from the edge of the sheets, feeling almost cheated as the cold from the outside began to bleed into the bed.

"I've got to go." Naruto said in that hushed voice people used at that kind of hour. It was completely unlike the voice that Sasuke had gotten out of the blonde just prior, and already Sasuke resented the difference.

"Back to Konoha?" He asked, eyes still on Naruto as he pulled on his clothes gingerly, covering up Sasuke's scar and the other marks left on him by the Uchiha. Sasuke rubbed his own neck, feeling the evidence of what happened that night there too. Unfortunately, these wouldn't last. Not for long.

Naruto looked back at him, and there was that longing in his gaze that Sasuke has seen before but only now identified, probably mirrored also in Sasuke's own eyes. He sighed. "Yeah. Back to Konoha."

Because he has to. Like Sasuke has to continue on his own quest after this, just like always. But, Sasuke thought, quests were made to finish, and then afterwards, maybe...

Naruto turned to the window, moving toward it. He hesitated. "...It still hurts." He whispered, brokenly. Sasuke just caught it.

That was an answer that the Uchiha chose, for the first time, to take optimistically. So he decided to speak up too.

"...Same here." Naruto looked back at him, eyes wide. "But I'm sure I can wait it out for a while like you."

Naruto swallowed. "U-until?"

"Until it's ready to go away again. For both of us." By the way Naruto seemed to be freed of a perpetual weight upon his shoulders, Sasuke was sure he had gotten his meaning across.

"Yeah." His eyes softened, and Naruto picked up his katana, eyed it, before sheathing at leaning it against the wall for Sasuke to keep. "I think I can take it 'till then."

They didn't say goodbye because they were going to see each other later. They were. It was a promise.

So Sasuke rolled onto his back again, in the darkness. His hand crept up to touch his chest. It stung, but it was a good pain. Naruto had felt this for years. Sasuke could -would- deal with this too.

Naruto, as he sped through the trees, unconsciously did the same. His pain had changed. _Unrequited_ love had been a painful wound, but he had a feeling that distance would only make his heart grow fonder this time.

* * *

...Wow. Okay, so, apparently, staying up til three in the morning makes me sappy as hell. That last half kept me up until the wee hours of the morning, my muse being a cruel master as I'd try to sleep, and suddenly I'd get an idea, get up, turn on the computer, type, then repeat the cycle all over again. Well, for the last half- I did this in two separate times (and I never really planned to end it), so there might be a style shift halfway through, from a relatively normal fic to suddenly ELABORATE EMPHATIC LANGUAGE EVERYWHERE LIKE I SUDDENLY TURNED INTO JUDITH WRIGHT WITHOUT THE NATURAL SYMBOLISM AND JUST KEPT ALL THE SEX.

IB is too much. Too much, and I guess you can see the before/after effect.

...Wait no that just means I've -always- been a cliche romantic! DX Augh! I'm so much of a sap that I couldn't go through with the unfulfilling, sad ending I had planned, and had to make it optimistic. Gaddammit! _


End file.
